Loose change

What is it about handling coppers that make your hands smell? Why can't I stop smelling them even though I know the smell is really rather nasty - I don't need to keep checking! And do I really want to know or shall I just anti-bac and remain ignorant? Yep I agree ignorance (in this case) is bliss!

Now I can hear the tired, Friday evening cogs whirling in your heads wondering why I am playing with coins on a  Friday night (I do have a gin if that makes my Friday night social life slightly less tragic)? Well, this evening I have been doing some investigating as how much in loose mixed change (nothing over 20p) can fit in one of my Blue Peter copper pots.

Having now given out / posted over 25 copper pots the "Save the Copper" campaign has officially launched. At work I am even offering a whole tray of homemade (and delectable) pecan brownies to the person who collects the most pennies in February and, being a competitive lot, there has been talk of including a few golden nuggets to increase integral value! It's amazing heights people will go to for a tray of Brownies.

But instead of waiting for the pots to be handed back, and being of an impatient imposition, I couldn't wait to begin calculating what a full pot might generate. So, kids tucked up in bed, I emptied out the inspiration behind the campaign, our own loose change pot,  and filled a "Save the Copper" cup:

This totalled a staggering £5.53 and I still hadn't completely emptied the our loose change pot! Of course I also found a random array of oddities including a shoe horn, button, American cent, toy penny and a pen!

So whilst I am not expecting each pot to be filled to such levels as my example, this does fill me with excitement that, over the year, the penny pledge might reach £200! What do you reckon?